Attaching buckle for underwear



p 1, 1959 H. M. GIRODET 2,901,801

ATTACHING BUCKLE FOR UNDERWEAR Filed Oct. 10, 1957 fiwenior Hmm/ MAMEL 61m: pa r,

United States atent ATTACHING BUCKLE FOR UNDERWEAR Henri Marcel Girodet, Saint-Etienne, France Application October 10, 1957, Serial No. 689,307 Claims priority, application France October 12, 1956 2 Claims. (Cl. 24-200) The buckles presently used for holding or closing various articles of underwear clothes such as suspenders and fasteners for brassieres generally include means for adjusting the length of the connecting parts, constituted for instance by a ribbon or a braid, whether elastic or otherwise on which they are fitted; but such buckles show the drawback of readily sliding in an undesired manner over the connecting parts, chiefly when a substantial traction is exerted thereon and such a sliding obviously modifies the adjustment made.

My invention has for its object a buckle which does not show this drawback while allowing an easy adjustment of the length of the connecting part.

According to my invention, the section of the buckle engaging the longitudinally adjustable connection is integral with the buckle body and includes two juxtaposed elements arranged parallel to each other, the buckle body being secured to one part of the garment, said juxtaposed elements forming with said buckle body a single unit injection molded of plastic material and the longitudinally adjustable connection is secured to the other part of the garment by means of a series of transverse bars formed on said elements. Thus, any traction exerted on the connection produces by reason of the actual elasticity of said elements a bending thereof which leads to their closing over each other and consequently to an increased adherence and to an increased wedging of the connection which is all the greater when the tensioning exerted is larger.

According to a preferred embodiment of my invention, the transverse bar provided on the buckle body is open laterally or medially so as to allow a speedy disconnection between the buckle and the attaching braid which is sewn to the other section of the garments which may be a brassiere, a sheath-corset or the like.

Similarly, the first transverse bar provided for the engagement by the tensioned strand of the adjustable connection and the last bar underneath which passes the free strand forming the outer end of said adjustable connection are open in their middle so that the elasticity of the two half-bars thus obtained may further the release or disengagement of said free strand of the connection with a view to adjusting the length of the connection without it being necessary to completely release the latter.

With a view to still further increasing the adherence between the connection and the bars engaging same, it is advantageous to provide said bars with a serration for engagement with said connection.

I will now describe my invention with reference to the accompanying drawings illustrating by way of example a preferred embodiment thereof. In said drawings:

Figs. 1 and 2 are respectively front and rear views of my improved arrangement.

Fig. 3 is a sectional vertical view through line 3-3 of Fig. l.

The buckle may be injection molded of plastic material as a single unit of three sections, to wit, a body to be sewn to a braid or the like non-adjustable part and two ice elements to which the longitudinally adjustable connection is attached.

The body forms in the conventional manner a slotted bar 2 one of the sides of which is open at 3 in the case illustrated so as to allow its speedy engagement and disengagement with reference to the securing braid 4 shown in interrupted lines, said braid being of course sewn to one part of a garment as described.

j As to the actual adjustable connection 5, it is secured through the two elements 6 and 7 which are parallel with each other and are interconnected with each other and also with the body 2 through the agency of a centerpiece 8.

The element 6 includes three transverse bars 6a, 6b, 6c interconnecting two side bars 6d and 6e and defining three passageways 6 6g, 6h between the successive bars and between the bar 6e and the center-piece 8 above the latter.

The element 7 is constituted in a similar manner but it includes only two transverse bars 7a and 7b defining two passageways 7c, 7d.

The bar 6a of the element 6 and the bar 7a of the element 7 are both cut medially as shown at 10 so as to form thus two half-bars.

Ali or part of the different bars may be provided advantageously along their edges with a serration 9 such as that illustrated for the bars 60 and 7b with a View to increasing the hold on the adjustable connection 5.

As shown more particularly in Fig. 3, the connection 5 engages first the rear surface of the bar 6a, passes through the passageway 61 and returns over the bar 6b into the next passageway 6g and thence it passes through the uppermost passageways 611 and 7d onto the outside of the bar 7b and finally it engages through the passage way 7c the inside of the bar 7a so as to return through the passageway 6 over the outside of the bar 6w.

Obviously any tractional effort exerted in the downward direction on the strand 5 of the connection is associated by reason of the natural elasticity of the elements 6 and 7, with a closing of said elements towards each other, which leads to a clamping of the connection between them and, consequently, the free strand 5a can by no means slip with reference to the buckle.

It is thus apparent that for adjusting the length of the connection it is sufiicient to resort to the elasticity of the cut bars 6a7a to subject the latter to a slight transient deformation perpendicular to the plane of Figs. 1 and 2 which allows releasing the end of the free strand 5a of the connection 5; said strand is then caused to pass through the gaps l0 separating the cooperating halves of said cut bars without it being necessary to remove the connection by a shifting thereof throughout its length through the upper passageways 6h7d.

It is then possible to proceed with the desired adjustment of the length of the connection 5 by exerting a traction either on the main strand 5 so as to increase its length or on its free strand 511 for shortening it.

The locking of the adjustable connection in its modified position is obtained as readily by merely shifting the free strand 5a through the intermediate gaps 10 as allowed by a transient deformation of the halves of the lowermost bars 7a, 6a.

Obviously, the elements 6 and 7 may include a larger number of transverse bars with a View to obtaining a more energetic engagement with the connection 5 although in practice the bending capacity of said elements due to their being made of injected plastic material is such that the presence of only three bars for one element and two bars for the other is quite sufficient.

It is also possible to substitute for the lateral opening 3 in the body 2 a medial opening whereby said body or bar would assume a structure similar to that of the bars 6a and 7a. It is also possible to form this body in the shape of a loop, a ring or a hook.

Lastly, and more generally, my invention is by no means limited to that embodiment which is illustrated hereinabove and which is illustrated in the drawings and it covers in contradistinction all the modifications thereof falling within the scope of the accompanying claims. Thus, for instance, the passageways in the two elements, instead of registering transversely may be arranged in slightly staggered formation.

What I claim is:

1. A buckle assembly comprising a one piece plastic buckle and a garment tape, said buckle including a body section and a pair of fiat sections extending from said body section in substantially parallel planes, said body section including means for attachment to a garment section, each of said flat sections having side bars extending from said body section, one of said flat sections having two side bars and at least two transverse bars extending between its side bars, the other of said flat sections having two side bars and transverse bars extending between its side bars corresponding to and disposed in superimposed relationship to the transverse bars of said one flat section and an additional transverse bar extending between its side bars beyond the other transverse bars in spaced relation thereto, the garment tape encircling under tension the transverse bars of each flat section adjacent the body section and then extending between the other superimposed transverse bars and between the additional transverse bar and the adjacent transverse bar,

the tensioned tape urging the encircling bars together causing the other superimposed bars to grip the tape.

2. A one-piece plastic buckle comprising two body sections, one body section including a pair of transverse bars connected at one end by a side bar and adapted to receive therebetweeen a garment tape, the other body section extending from one of said transverse bars of said one body section perpendicular to the other transverse bar of said one body section and comprising a pair of substantially parallel flat sections, one of said flat sections having two side bars and at least two transverse bars extending between the side bars to provide two slots for receiving a second garment tape, the other of said flat sections having two side bars and at least three transverse bars extending between its side bars to provide three transverse slots for receiving the second garment tape, the transverse bars of each flat section adjacent said one body section providing means for receiving the second garment tape thereabouts under tension for urging them and the other transverse bars of the two flat sections toward each other to grip the second garment tape extending between the other transverse bars of said fiat sections.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 397,002 Isaacs Jan. 29, 1889 413,382 Bassett Oct. 22, 1889 2,057,575 Houghton Oct. 13, 1936 2,269,696 Shaulson Jan. 13, 1942 2,285,714 Hirsh June 9, 1942 

